Centrepoint's Destiny
by Jedi Carpet
Summary: While researching Centrepoint Station, Jacen Solo discovers an Astria Porta that connects him to Earth and brings new information on Earth's farthest mission from home.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is a little something I've been working on since Stargate Universe was cancelled. I'm not big on cross-overs, but I found what I think is a plausible idea and ran away with it. It's been a few years since I started and I'm not done, but I thought I'd throw it out there and chuck some parts of it out there as I do it. I can't guarantee any regularity in posting at all, or that I'll finish it. But I will do my best to finish it. I'm hoping that posting it will give me a bit of motivation.

So, this is a crossover between the Stargate universe (SG-1, SG-A and SG-U) and Star Wars. Essentially it is a couple of familiar Jedi getting involved with Earth. I think the technology lends itself to the crossover as much as anything, so...have fun with it. I have. As always, I own nothing, and I love reviews. More reviews = more motivation, so if you want to see an ending, review lots :)

* * *

_What an odd place to find a Jedi Master._

Jaina waved her hand in front of the three vertically placed crystals beside the door frame and the door smoothly parted open. She peered into the dark chamber, lit only by odd display terminals, the likes of which she had never seen before.

"Jacen?"

"Over here."

Jaina followed his presence in their twin bond, as she had for the last few hours until she located his ship, more than his voice and found him hunched over sitting in front of a display terminal covered with letters in a language she did not recognize.

"Well, I'm here," Jaina said.

_Here_ was, indeed, an odd place. It did not surprise Jaina at all that her brother, obsessed as he was with finding new ways of using the Force, would look anywhere he could for new inspirations on how to access and use the Force.

But _Centerpoint Station_?

If that was not enough, he found the most obscure building below the interior surface of the biosphere which seemed to be filled with the most obscure ancient computers in the galaxy.

"Mmmhmm," Jacen murmured, still intently reading the display screen.

"Why am I here?" Jaina demanded.

"I made a big discovery," Jacen said and pointed vaguely to a window on the opposite side of the room Jaina stood on, still not looking away from the computer. "Take a look over there."

Jaina crossed the room and looked through the glass.

"Kinda dark."

"Oh, right."

After soft beep behind Jaina, the lights on the other side of the glass faded in to illuminate a decent-sized room with a giant stone ring standing on a platform. She could barely make out several of the odd shapes around the middle of the ring, some of which she recognized as Corellian star constellations.

"Wow!" Jaina said sarcastically, turning back to him. "You found a big round rock!"

"Astria Porta," Jacen corrected, finally turning to face her. "I believe it translates to 'Stargate.' And I think I found out who built the Corellian sector."

* * *

"As you know, Corellia, Selonia, Talus, Tralus, and Drall were all planets from another part of the galaxy, dragged here by Centerpoint station," Jacen said. "I've figured out who did it, and why."

"Don't stop on my account," Jaina said irritably.

Jacen smiled and continued.

"They were called Lantians. About a half million years ago a fleet of their warships was caught in an unstable intergalactic wormhole during a test of a new technology and was transported not far from here. The wormhole almost destroyed the entire fleet, leaving the ships crippled. Some of their best scientists were on board and they had to figure out a way of getting back to their home world of Atlantis. Apparently they use a technology called Astria Portas to travel between points across the universe, namely that one there that they happened to have on board one of the warships, and in order to cross the distance between here and Atlantis they needed a lot of power for the porta."

"So they built Centerpoint to harness the energy of the singularity and get home."

"Yes, but somewhere along the way they figured they also needed more sources of power – namely the repulsor systems from other nearby planets that feed into the system. Why? I don't know. The power output of Centerpoint alone far exceeded their initial calculations and was able to activate the porta to connect with Atlantis."

"And you called me out of a Jedi Council meeting for this ancient piece of garbage and a history lesson?"

"I called you out of the Jedi Council meeting because that ancient piece of garbage still works, and I've contacted the people on Atlantis. They want to meet us. _In their galaxy_."

"Let me get this straight," Jaina said with disbelief. "You want us to go through that old rock down there to another _galaxy_?"

"Yeah," Jacen said with a glint of excitement in his eye. "Sounds exciting, eh?"

"How do we get back? As you said, the power requirements are huge."

Jacen grinned broadly and turned back to his computer display.

"I actually solved a problem for them, too." Jacen called up a holographic image of a device with a ball of light above three downward-pointing prongs connected with what Jaina could only assume were power conduits. "This is a technology the Lantians here were trying to develop around the time when they built Centrepoint. You see, they normally draw power from zero point space within a contained module that looks somewhat like one of these three parts on the bottom here, but they couldn't replicate the zero-point energy module without the facilities back on Atlantis."

"They harnessed zero-point energy?" Jaina demanded. "That could be nearly limitless power with no power generators. Could you imagine what one of those in an X-wing could mean?"

"Probably better than you, but the energy isn't quite as limitless as you think. At least one of those modules would have been enough to power a Death Star for a while, but they do run out eventually. Either way, the scientists who were stranded here didn't have enough of them to get enough power to go home so they had to figure something else out. One of their scientists came up with a way of drawing power from a singularity, like the tiny star at the centre of Centerpoint. His idea was to create a tiny portable singularity within this bubble up here and feed it through the same system that the zero point energy cells used. He couldn't figure out how to create a singularity within the containment bubble he created in order to keep it safe, so they ended up building it on a scale that didn't need as much containment."

"And, let me guess, you figured out the solution to his problem?" Jaina asked suspiciously.

"The Force works in mysterious ways." Jacen grinned. "I was able to finish the experiment and… We've done some test runs and they can establish a connection with us using this thing.

"Jaina, you have to see the information in this database. I mean, they have details on how they _created_ human life in this galaxy. Projects and experiments that they were doing as a race across the _universe_. There are coordinates for hundreds of locations they were trying to reach, or had just recorded for future use outside our galaxy."

"What kinds of locations?"

Jacen called up a display that indicated several eight and nine constellation codes.

"As I understand it, within a given galaxy, seven symbols are required to activate the porta. If you go outside a galaxy, you need an eighth and a lot more power. Those ones all use relative referencing – if they move a porta, they can easily figure out which symbol combination will point to that new location. They also figured out a way of doing absolute referencing to a specific location using the ninth symbol that can reach just about anywhere if you have enough power."

"Like the amount a singularity puts off."

"A singularity, or even a singularity combined with five repulsors. The amount of power the entire Centerpoint system could feed into the porta is…I couldn't even begin to calculate it, Jaina, but if I'm right it can reach over half way across the universe. Now, look at these addresses. I don't understand why some are nine symbols and others are eight, but these are planets called Earth, Destiny…ummm…that one looks like Contingency, Gamble, Utopia, and this one is where we are, Centerpoint. They all appear to be important locations within the Lantian…Empire, I guess you could call it. This one here, Atlantis, is weird. It has both an eight and a nine symbol address. I couldn't get the eight to work, but the nine symbol address did."

"And you thought it would be a good idea to contact these people on the planet Atlantis in another galaxy?"

"Well, if the builders wanted to go there after coming here it must be a nice place," Jacen reasoned. "The people there aren't the same as the original Lantians. From what little they told me, they're not what they call Ancients – the original Lantians – but a second evolution of humanoids, much like how we appear to be. They're as human as us - they look like they could be from Coruscant."

"Jacen, this is huge."

"I know. Ready to go?"

* * *

"It's so beautiful," Jaina commented, running her hand gently across the surface of the event horizon of the established wormhole. The giant whoosh of energy had caught her off guard before the giant ring compiled the energy into the stable event horizon. According to Jacen, her yelp was not too dissimilar to that of a wounded mynock. She tapped the surface of the event horizon with her finger and watched in amazement as her reflection distorted in the ripples.

"Atlantis, this is Jacen Solo, please acknowledge."

"This is Doctor Rodney McKay of Atlantis," a borderline impatient voice returned from Jacen's communicator. "Go ahead, Solo."

"I'd like to take you up on that offer of a visit," Jacen said. "If you don't mind, my sister would like to come along as well."

There was silence for a couple minutes, during which Jacen and Jaina went between looking at each other and their distorted reflections in the event horizon.

"Our shield is down, you may proceed," McKay's voice returned. "We do ask that you surrender any guns at the border. We're rather like Canada over here."

Jaina looked to her brother and mouthed _Canada? _ He replied with a shrug.

"Understood. I'll send my weapons through first."

Jacen unclipped his lightsabers from his belt and magnetically connected the pommels together before tossing them through the event horizon.

"Was that a good idea?"

Jacen closed his eyes for a moment, and then nodded.

"Yeah. I can sense they made it through safely."

He followed the lightsabers through, and Jaina sighed. She unclipped her own lightsaber, hung it on her thumb by the belt hook, and followed her brother.


	2. Chapter 2

Jaina stepped through into a large, beautiful chamber full of lights, windows, stairs, and people pointing weapons at her and her brother. One of the armed men came toward her and took the lightsaber from her thumb, before retreating back to the defensive perimeter.

"I'm sorry for the enthusiasm of our guards," a balding man of authority approached from the top of the stairs opposite the stargate. He wore a red paneled jacket, dark pants, and a wire frame holding two sheets of glass before his eyes which made him look both distinguished and somewhat goofy. "I'm Doctor Richard Woosley, leader of the Atlantis Expedition. You've already spoken with Doctor Rodney McKay,"

Woosley gestured to another balding man, this one in a blue-paneled jacket and lighter pants. McKay looked slightly shy and nervous, but Jaina could sense his boundless excitement. He then gestured to another, younger man with dishevelled black hair and a black, more militaristic uniform.

"And this is our resident military authority, Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard."

"Pleasure to meet you," John said, reaching out to shake hands with Jacen, and then with Jaina. He held Jaina's hand a bit longer than he had Jacen's and gave her a smile that her brother did not seem to have earned.

"You can also call him Captain Kirk," McKay muttered, reaching past John's arm and pushing him aside to roughly shake Jacen's hand, then Jaina's. "Hi. Nice to meet you both. I can, uh, see the family resemblance."

"Atlantis appears to be a beautiful planet," Jacen said, noting the clear blue skies staring back at him through the windows and the architecture of the building they were in. "I'm looking forward to seeing more of it."

McKay laughed.

"Atlantis isn't a planet," he said in a mildly condescending tone that Jaina doubted he knew he was using. "It's a city."

Jacen and Jaina exchanged glances.

"A city?" Jacen asked. "The records and address I found indicated Atlantis was a planet…but then this city must be able to travel between planets!"

Jaina regarded her brother with a dose of skepticism. A moving city? What nonsense…

"Yes," McKay confirmed impatiently. "We moved it from the Pegasus galaxy to here, on Earth, about three years ago. We haven't had enough power to leave, until now."

"That's why the…eight symbol address didn't work," Jaina said, still trying to wrap her head around the idea of a city that could fly to other galaxies. "You had to use the nine symbol address to make a connection. The eight symbol must be the address of the planet Atlantis was on half a million years ago when Centerpoint was built."

"Atlantis has a nine symbol address?" McKay demanded.

"Rodney," Sheppard interrupted. "We'll have plenty of time for questions later. First we'd like to ask that you come to our infirmary. Guests to Atlantis go through a standard medical examination when coming here. We've had our share of alien pathogens cause problems before."

"Nothing too invasive, I hope," Jacen said.

"Just a quick body scan," Woosley assured him. "Lantean technology is quite thorough, but there will be no needles."

* * *

The medical scan, done by a pleasant young woman with some sort of badly hidden connection to Rodney McKay, did not take very long at all. In under five minutes both Jacen and Jaina were scanned and pronounced clear of any health threats, though the doctor did silently take note of the lasting indications of the torture that Jacen had gone through during the Vong war. While Jaina had missed her apprehension at the results of the scan, Jacen had not. McKay and Sheppard both decided to accompany the Jedi on a tour through parts of the city, which started with a view of the tropical island that Atlantis had been parked beside.

"Most of the people of Earth have no idea we exist," Sheppard explained to the siblings as the four of them leaned against the balcony railing looking over the city and island below. "Atlantis is cloaked to keep hidden, and there is a naval quarantine around this whole area to keep people from running into us."

"We've been taking the last few years to repair the city," McKay said. "We're almost done the repairs and refits. Being on Earth makes it a lot easier to get resources, especially shipments of stuff that can't fit through a stargate. You wouldn't believe what this city has been through."

"Our galactic history goes back thousands of years, but we know nothing of the time when Centerpoint was built," Jacen said. "It is amazing what gets lost to time."

"Excuse me," Sheppard said, tapping his ear and walking away from the group.

"So you're explorers?" McKay asked.

"I guess you could say that," Jacen said and glanced at his sister. "Well, I am. She's a politician."

"Am not!" Jaina protested. "Just because I sit on the Council doesn't mean I'm a politician. And you're one to talk!"

"She's a former fighter pilot turned fighting politician," Jacen corrected himself, earning himself a slap on the arm.

"Whatever you say, _your highness_," Jaina mocked. "If anyone's a politician, it's you."

"King Jacen?" Rodney asked with a mixture of curiosity and amused disbelief.

"I married a queen." Jacen shrugged. "It's a matriarchal society. I'm just arm candy."

Any further response was cut off by the return of Sheppard from a…closet down the hall.

"McKay, the SGC needs you," Sheppard said. "_Destiny_ is having some power problems and General O'Neill wants you to go over some of Eli's calculations. The Daedalus is standing by to transport you."

"What's Boy Wonder up to now?" Rodney muttered and walked away.

"Not much for social skills, is he?" Jaina asked when the balcony door closed behind McKay.

"Let's be serious," Sheppard said smoothly. "What scientist needs those?"

"Destiny was a location in the Centerpoint address book," Jacen interrupted Sheppard's attempts to hit on his sister. "Another city ship?"

"No, _Destiny_ is a ship that is on the other side of the universe. Some of our people were stranded there after an accident involving a planet that exploded. The ship is millions of years old and falling apart around them, but we have no way of getting them home right now. However, thanks to that new gizmo of yours, we think we might be able to dial in."

"What could you do to help them? Send them some power generators?"

"That's for McKay to figure out," Sheppard said. "I just shoot things and fly the ships. Let me show you around some more of Atlantis."

* * *

The tour ended after an hour at a room with a man who looked like a partially-shaved Wookiee fighting with an attractive woman, both of them with metre long sticks in each hand. Jacen immediately noticed that her fighting style was much more reserved than the man whose wild attacks matched his appearance.

"Hey kids, we have guests," Sheppard announced. "Tayla and Ronin, the other two members of my team. These are Jacen and Jaina Solo. They're from another galaxy, too."

"Nice to meet you," Jacen said, and Jaina nodded.

"You here to fight?" Ronin asked without taking his eyes off Tayla.

"Sure," Jaina accepted the challenge, stepping forward. She tossed Jacen her Jedi robe and Tayla offered her the sticks. She spun them around to get the feeling for them. Before she could face Ronin, a downward slash of Ronin's weapon would have made a dent on her skull if she had not stepped away at the last moment. She barely felt the breeze of his other weapon pass by her head as she ducked on reflex, spinning away from the larger man and taking a wild slash at his back. He already had his left-hand stick deflecting her blind attack and was winding up with his right. She dropped to the ground and used the Force to speed and strengthen her strike, catching his ankle with a low roundhouse kick. Caught off balance, Ronin hopped back a few metres to put some distance between him and this unexpected challenge.

"You're not bad."

"I've fought better," Jaina replied with a grin.

"Better than Ronin? Is that possible?" Sheppard whispered to Jacen.

"You should meet my wife," Jacen responded.

Jaina attacked with a lightning-fast lunge at Ronin's chest, jumped off her front foot into the air, twisting her feet into the air so her head passed within a foot of his head and slapped him across the back with both staffs as she sailed over him. Ronin barely budged off the hit and counterattacked before she hit the ground, catching both of her staffs as she blocked across her chest and sending her back several metres through the air where she landed on her feet. Their traded blows echoed through the room as the sticks hit each other, or on the few occasions that Jaina slapped Ronin on the skin. Despite landing several blows on the larger man, two of which broke his skin, Jaina could not slow Ronin down any more than Ronin could land a hit on the agile young Jedi. If anything, the repeated blows only seemed to drive him to fight with greater intensity.

"Where did you learn to fight like this?" Ronin finally broke his bout of silence, but not his concentration. His eyes flicked all over her as he continued analyzing her movements looking for a weakness in her form.

"Sorry to cut this short," Sheppard interrupted, one finger to the device in his ear again. "But Woolsey would like to see our guests now."

"Keep practicing," Jaina said to Ronin with a wink as Tayla relieved her of the weapons.

* * *

Opposite the control room above the gate room, Jacen, Jaina and Sheppard met with Woolsey, Doctor Keller and two people in military uniforms who were introduced as General Jack O'Neill and Colonel Samantha Carter.

"So you're the aliens?" The General asked with an appraising eye as he shook their hands.

"Wait until you meet a Trandoshan," Jacen responded.

"Please have a seat." Woolsey gestured to a couple of empty seats across the table from him. His tone indicated he had little tolerance for the General's unique form of diplomacy.

"Before we start," Jacen said as he sat down. "I'd like to hear some more about your people. Based on what I read in the database on Centerpoint station, human life originated in this galaxy in the form of the Lanteans?"

"Ancients," Carter corrected. "The Ancients were the gate builders, and the ones who built Atlantis and _Destiny_. The Lanteans were the Ancients who lived on Atlantis. Like yourselves, we are the second evolution of humans in our galaxy. We're still trying to learn a lot about the technology that makes up the city, and we've occupied it for eight years now."

"Doctor McKay is our resident expert on all things Ancient," Woolsey continued. "Unfortunately Doctor McKay could not be here because of a crisis on the other side of the universe, so I've asked Colonel Carter to join us today as she is our foremost expert on alien technologies. I'd like to get straight to the point. We would like to know what your expectations of meeting us are."

Jacen and Jaina exchanged glances.

"Umm…well…I hadn't really thought that far ahead," Jacen admitted. "I was hoping to meet new people and I thought I'd drag my sister along for company."

"Thanks," Jaina said sarcastically, and Jacen smiled in response.

"I spent five years searching our galaxy for knowledge after a war that nearly destroyed our galaxy," Jacen elaborated. "During the last few years I started a family, but never stopped looking for knowledge. I suppose this is a new…way to learn new things. Exploring a human culture in a galaxy far, far away from home. I have no idea what you could offer us, personally or otherwise. I'm not looking for riches or anything. Hell, I married a queen of sixty-three planets, and not for the wealth. I'm here because…it's exciting, you know? I do want to go back, but I also want to see what's over here. Maybe in time we can discover things that we can share and develop relations between our governments."

"This…war you mentioned," Doctor Keller said. "You didn't happen to be involved in it, were you? And would this enemy be a threat to us?"

"Jaina and I were on the front lines from the second day," Jacen said, his eyes losing the glint of youthful excitement they held a moment before. "During the third year, I was captured by the enemy. I trust you noticed some of the _reminders_ that were left from my captivity with your scan, Doctor."

Keller flushed bright red, but did not say anything.

"The Yuuzhan Vong are no longer a threat," Jaina picked up. "Jacen befriended a sentient planet and together they had a large part in convincing the Vong to end the war."

"A sentient _planet_?" Carter asked.

"A close friend of mine," Jacen corrected. "Who happens to be a planet. She's the only one we've ever found. Together we created a situation which allowed for a peace accord to be struck between the Yuuzhan Vong and the people of our galaxy. Their warrior class committed suicide at the end of the war, and they abhor technology, so you have nothing to fear from them. They would destroy the stargate before activating it."

"Well, we have a need for you," Woolsey said, bringing the discussion back to his intended path. "Colonel?"

Carter stood up and activated a display screen. A diagram of what appeared to be a streamlined crescent-shaped ship with a long front hull extending from the middle of the crescent appeared.

"This is _Destiny_, an Ancient ship on the other side of the universe," Carter said. "Fifty two of our people are stranded on it in a dire situation where they lack both the power and resources to survive, much less get home. We're hoping you can help us out."

"With the device I sent you," Jacen theorized.

"Exactly," Carter said. "That device you created produces enough energy to run all of Atlantis' systems at full power even with an active stargate to your galaxy, and that would still barely use half of what it can output. But that still isn't enough power to reach _Destiny_."

"You need a bigger singularity to connect a wormhole," Jaina said.

"That's part of it," Carter admitted. "But not all. We want to make another of these to power _Destiny_. Right now they can't store enough power to survive more than a couple of weeks at full operating capacity. The power system has sustained too much degradation and damage over the millions of years _Destiny_ has been active to support a crew. They're looking into long term hibernation and an FTL jump that will put them out of touch for three years until they can find stars that are safe enough for them to recharge in."

"What's wrong with the stars near where they are?" Jaina asked.

"They're being defended by a powerful enemy," Woolsey said. "Any attempt to get near a safe star is suicidal. _Destiny_ has already sustained damage attempting to recharge from a star that was too hot."

"So you need my help to create the singularity inside one of these devices to send to them," Jacen said.

"We've replicated the unit using your specifications and the Asgard matter replication system, but we can't figure out how you activated it," Carter admitted. "Frankly, we're as stumped as the Ancients who designed it were."

Jacen held his hands in front of him and concentrated. A moment later a flash of light appeared half way between his palms before it coalesced into a bright ball of light. He clapped his hands together and it disappeared.

"It's a matter of controlling specific matter at an atomic level," Jacen explained.

"How?" Carter asked breathlessly, speaking for everyone in the room. He had used no perceptible technology to create the short-lived star.

"I did mention I spent five years seeking knowledge," Jacen said. "Did you think I was searching for new recipes?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Did anyone think of just dialing them from our end so they can come back through?"

Carter looked up at Jaina from one of McKay's computers and back at the newly-activated power source. After having taken over McKay's lab for their work, Jacen had activated the device within a minute, leaving Carter to analyze it for stability and find a way to incorporate it into _Destiny's_ old pre-ZPM power grid. Jaina, who had a history of working with machines, stayed to help her while her brother got some rest. Apparently the twins had been on different time zones when they left their galaxy.

"Wormholes are one directional," Carter said. "Only certain types of radiation and radio waves can go both ways."

"Ah," Jaina said. "And how many of these would you need to make a connection to Earth from _Destiny_?"

"Four," Carter said. "I think three would do it, but a fourth would give us a margin of safety."

"Can _Destiny_ even handle that much power?"

"I don't know," Carter admitted, her brow furrowed. "I've gone over almost everything they've sent back from _Destiny_. Every time they've tried to channel that much energy through the Stargate something has gone wrong. Power conduits getting damaged, temporal incursions, you name it. The ship has also taken on so much damage that it's impossible to say if adding this much energy to the system would end up overloading everything. However, in order to generate that much power, they've had to be inside a star. The power flow irregularities they've experienced could be a result of the gravitational magnitude of the star, or the fluctuations in the power flow from the nature of the collection system."

"Too bad there aren't any other stargates out there," Jaina mused. "If they could rig this power source to the gate itself and generate the wormhole they wouldn't have to worry about the ship's failing health."

"There are thousands of gates," Carter said. "But only the one on _Destiny_ can dial outside a given galaxy. The others don't have the control crystals needed for it."

"Can you make new ones? Or remove them?"

"No, they're integrated into _Destiny_'s mainframe" Carter said. "That design of gate is much older than ours and we don't have accurate schematics for them. Even between the Atlantis and Earth gates the internal designs are too dissimilar to use the same dialing program or control crystals. The puddle jumpers automatically switch to the different dialing programs depending on which gate system it senses. If we ever find gates newer than Atlantis's, I doubt the DHD in the puddle jumpers will work."

"Puddle jumpers?"

"Small ships that fit through the gates. We have a bunch upstairs."

"Would they work with those really old gates?"

Carter sighed.

"Not to dial outside a galaxy. Jumpers are only designed to use seven symbol addresses, except from inside a location that has the eighth-chevron control crystal like Atlantis. I don't think there is even space inside _Destiny's_ gate room for a puddle jumper to land safely, or if it'll fit through the gate. Rush said they're smaller than our gates."

Further discussion was interrupted by a quake, causing Jaina and Carter to grab hold of the table before them.

"Was that…?"

"An explosion, yes," Carter said. She tapped her ear piece. "Colonel Carter to Control Room, what happened?"

After a moment of listening to the report, Carter moved to the door and gestured Jaina to follow.

"We're being boarded, probably by the Lucian Alliance," Carter said. "Have you ever fired a gun?"

"Give me my lightsaber and I won't have to," Jaina replied.

"Those were the cylinders you and your brother came through the gate with, right? Zelenka was analyzing them in his lab, two floors down," Carter said. "Jack thinks they may be coming after the new power source. They have spies everywhere."

"Wait," Jaina said. A second later her lightsaber appeared in her hand.

"How…?"

"Jacen," She said. "He…knows how to do things. He has his lightsabers and is going to the power control room to guard it."

"Stay with this power source until I return," Carter said.

Jaina returned to McKay's lab and waited for five minutes before Carter returned with a combat vest and odd-looking black weapon with a yellow rack on the top. Three marines accompanied her, two armed with larger guns, and one carrying the same model.

"The Alliance landed five cargo ships on the west pier and they're advancing along the outside," Carter said. "Stay with these guys; I'm going to help out on the front lines."

"You stay, I'll go," Jaina said. "I have a feeling I could be more helpful out there."

"Jaina…"

Jaina ignited her lightsaber, its white-purple blade both catching Carter off guard and intriguing her at the same time.

"Stop me."

Jaina ran to the nearest balcony and jumped straight out toward the west pier where she could see gunfire lighting areas of Atlantis's hull. She fell through the air, letting the rush of fresh salty sea air awaken her and prepare her for the upcoming battle. She drew on the Force to slow her descent and landed with a roll that she turned into an outright sprint toward the gunfire. The rhythm of the Earthlings' machine weapons was offset by the energy weapons from the Lucian Alliance troops as she approached. The Force lent intuition to her, and she changed her direction to run up behind several of the Earthlings.

"Sheppard," Jaina said calmly, startling the Colonel.

"Jaina!" Sheppard shouted, nearly jumping out of cover as an energy blast sailed past him. "Dammit, I almost shot you!"

"Have you contacted them?"

Several energy blasts slammed into the side of the building they were using as shelter.

"They took out five of my guys. Is that contact enough for you?"

"I suppose we won't be able to talk them out of it," Jaina said, igniting her lightsaber again. "You distract 'em, I'll take 'em out."

"What?"

Without waiting for Sheppard to clue in, Jaina vaulted herself onto the nearest bunker the Lucian troops were using for cover. She caught several energy blasts on her lightsaber, deflecting them back at the shocked troops. It did not take her long to take the troops out and return several more energy blasts back at the enemies who decided to fire at her from various points of cover around her.

Finally recovered from the surprise of having Jaina appear on the battlefield, Sheppard advanced and opened fire, taking three Lucian troops out while Jaina back-flipped over and bisected a cluster of four troops with her lightsaber. Together they advanced on the remaining enemies, taking turns being the distraction to allow the other the opportunity to kill the remaining Lucian Alliance troops.

"I don't sense any more up here," Jaina said as they approached the empty cargo ships. "What kind of ships are these?"

"Goa'uld cargo transport ships," Sheppard said. "Common around the galaxy, but useful because of their cloak. They must have slipped right past our satellites in orbit. I thought McKay _fixed_ that."

"Ja_cen_…" Jaina closed her eyes for a moment and groaned. "We have to go find my brother. He's at the power room."

"Why?"

"Jacen likes to take prisoners," Jaina said helplessly. "He…you'll see."

When Jaina mentioned that her brother liked to take prisoners, Sheppard had assumed, as anyone would, that he would take prisoners of the Lucian Alliance. He did not expect to see Major Lorne and five marines disarmed and pressed a metre off the ground on the opposite side of a hallway from eight likewise imprisoned Lucian Alliance troops.

"What is going on here?" Sheppard demanded.

"Jacen, let them down," Jaina said wearily. "The Lantians are on our side."

"I sensed hostilities on both sides and thought it would be safer to control the entire situation," Jacen explained. He then pointed to the marine beside Lorne. "And he's a traitor. He was going to attack his own people. If you give me an hour with him, I'll find out if he knows who leaked the information about the power system, if he didn't do it himself."

"Do you regularly torture prisoners in your galaxy?" Sheppard asked Jaina.

"He won't," Jaina sighed. "He has ways of getting information out of people that won't harm them. Physically, anyway."

"Mind reading and telekinesis?" Sheppard asked. "What are you people capable of doing?"

"Just about anything," Jacen said. He let Lorne and the other 'safe' marines slide down the wall gently. "Do you have a brig for these guys? My nap was interrupted and I'd like to get back to sleep soon."

Woolsey was pissed. Not only had both of their guests escaped their escorts, but they had reclaimed their weapons without authorization. The facts that they had relinquished their weapons willingly and aided in the defense of Atlantis were their only saving graces as far as he was concerned. However, he could not decide what was more infuriating: the fact that they had exhibited super-human abilities during the defense of Atlantis; or the fact that they had no way of stopping the two Jedi – it was like the Khalek situation all over again. Sure Jacen had indicated what he was capable of with his demonstration creating the singularity, but Woolsey had assumed that there was some technological means that the young man had used.

And then there was the fact that Jacen labelled Captain Stephenson a traitor!

Woolsey stared at the two young visitors before him and tried to get a feeling for them. Jaina seemed somewhat timid regarding their breach of protocol but he got the sense that she understood his frustration. Her bright brown eyes seemed to plead that she wanted to state her case quickly, possibly to apologize for their actions.

Her brother was a different case entirely. After sitting in the office for five minutes while Woolsey had typed up his thoughts on the matter, _he fell asleep!_

"Would you mind waking your brother?" Woolsey asked Jaina through clenched teeth.

Jacen suddenly woke from his slumber without any perceptible intervention from his sister and glared at Jaina, who smirked to herself about some hidden joke between the two of them.

"Sorry, the attack was during my sleep cycle," Jacen apologized. "I spent a couple years without any sleep and I can't help myself at times. It's been a long day."

"For us all," Woolsey said irritably. "I think we need to come to a closer understanding of each other if you are to remain on Atlantis any longer."

"Mr. Woolsey, I want to apologize for us," Jaina said, confirming his suspicions. "We have special abilities, a lot of combat experience, and we knew we could help. Where we come from, we are expected to help those in need. Sheppard himself said that we saved a lot of lives today."

"You broke the grounds of our agreement to stay on Atlantis by leaving your escorts behind and by reacquiring your weapons."

"Actually, _I_ reacquired our weapons," Jacen said. He held out a hand and one of his lightsabers appeared with some sort of electronic sensor attached. He plucked the sensor off the polished metal and tossed it onto Woolsey's desk. "And I didn't realize that part of the agreement was for you to analyze our technology. When were you going to tell us you were dissecting our lightsabers? Do you have any idea how dangerous these are, and the connection we share with them?"

Before Woolsey could say anything, Jacen leaned forward and the lightsaber hilt floated between them, slowly spinning in a conical arc.

"A Jedi's lightsaber is an extension of their self. Most Jedi can locate their lightsaber within a city because so much of their person goes into the very essence of crafting one. It takes _years_ of refining and using one to make a lightsaber a reflection of its owner. Jedi Masters can spend decades working on it and still find refinements to make. How would you like it if I took your arm off and started poking and prodding it to see how it worked? As much as we broke the rules of your hospitality to risk our lives for the defense of your city, you have _violated_ our very _existences_."

Jacen snatched the lightsaber from the air and leaned back in his chair. He glared at the older man, keeping a firm grip on his lightsaber as he rested it on his calf.

"I think what Jacen is trying to say is…"

"I know exactly what he is trying to say," Woolsey said coldly. He was surprised at how well Jacen had responded, the revelation about the lightsabers aside, but he was not about to let someone half his age beat him at a debate.

"No, you don't," Jacen said with certainty. "I'm trying to say this arrangement isn't working. You think I'm trying to say we both screwed up."

Again, Woolsey was surprised by the younger man.

"Telekinesis, mind control, mind reading, precognition, elemental control, enhancement of physical attributes and endurance, atomic and chemical decomposition and restructuring, advanced healing, telepathy, illusions, and that's just what I'll admit to being capable of doing."

Woolsey's heart skipped a beat. _He's worse than_ _Khalek. And there are two of them!_

"We are Jedi Masters sworn to the protection of justice and peace in our galaxy," Jacen continued. "We can sense that you share our goals, and we've learned enough about your history with the Goa'uld and Wraith to know that you are an honourable people. Now, the real question is: can we be allies, or are we enemies?"

Woolsey sat back and stared at the young man appraisingly. The intense no-nonsense hardness of his eye told him that the cards were down. Based on the reports from Colonels Sheppard and Lorne, they had no way to stop the Jedi if they wanted to, and the fact that they had not threatened any member of the Atlantis expedition was certainly in their favour.

"I will discuss this with my superiors," Woolsey said calmly. "Until then, feel free to keep your weapons, but please stay with your escort at all times."

"Excellent." Jacen sprung up from his seat. "Now I can get some sleep."


	4. Chapter 4

While waiting for a response from Woolsey and his superiors, Jaina worked with Samantha Carter and Rodney McKay on the modification of the new energy technology, dubbed the "JPM" as a joke, for deployment into _Destiny's_ power grid. Upon hearing they had named the new power source the "Jacen Power Module," Jaina's brother had stopped visiting the lab, which suited everyone just fine. Jaina was the more technologically minded of the twins, anyway.

"It just won't work," Jaina exclaimed after what felt like the millionth time she tried the calculations. "Half of the systems they need to make this thing work are damaged, and even if they were operating they would barely handle one unit – forget four."

"I hate to say it, but I think we need some help from _Destiny_," Sam said. "Rush knows these systems better than anyone here."

"I don't think we're there yet," McKay said, still hunched over his computer without even glancing up.

"McKay…" Sam started.

"I know what you're going to say, and that's not the case," McKay snapped, obviously hiding something. Jaina looked to Sam for clarification.

"They don't really see eye-to-eye," Sam elaborated. "I think the only person happier about Rush being on _Destiny_ than Rush is Rodney."

"Then why's he working so hard to get his rival back here?"

"Pride," Sam said with a wink, earning a glare from McKay.

"Enough chitchat," McKay muttered and pushed a tablet computer into Jaina's hands. "Input these parameters and run it again."

"McKay," Sam said in a disappointed tone.

"What?" McKay finally looked up from his computer. "I can't exactly order _you_ around, can I?"

Jaina stopped Sam before she could say anything. "It's okay. It'll help me learn this input device."

Using the Force, Jaina sped her hands up and typed in the parameters with lightning speed and accuracy to the amazement of McKay.

"Done," Jaina said smartly to the amazed scientists and ran the program. "Woah."

"What is it?" McKay asked, and both scientists rushed over to look at her display.

"That looks promising," Carter said.

"Promising?" McKay said with a very un-Canadian grin of victory. "I just beat Rush!"

* * *

The north pier of Atlantis provided a breathtaking view of the tropical island cove that housed the entire floating city, allowing someone to be at the very edge and feel as if he was floating among the treetops of the jungle. It provided a peaceful location to meditate and avoid the hundreds of scientists and military personnel bustling about the city, especially for a Force user with a deep connection to the world around him. Nature provided a level of simplicity and grandeur that eased Jacen's mind unlike anything else. It was an honest, open environment devoid of deception in the human sense. Animals hunted for food, grazing the leaves and berries or taking down another animal for pure survival. There was no unnecessary action or obsession, no hatred or jealousy...just nature.

Much unlike the presence that approached.

Woolsey was all about deception and manipulating his prey. He lived for the hunt, like a giant cat, but his prey was the sharp mind of a worthy opponent. His intention was to defeat, but not kill. It was so very..._human_.

Jacen rose to greet the man.

"Doctor Woolsey."

"Master Solo, despite the fact that you seem to have lost your escort again," Woolsey said. "My superiors have agreed to open communication for a potential trade agreement between our two peoples."

"He's right up there," Jacen said, pointing to his escort approximately a kilometre away sitting beside another soldier on some sort of blocky device that was part of the hull. "He didn't want to walk all the way down here, and I didn't want to be interrupted by his stray thoughts. We agreed to stay within sight of each other."

"I see." Woolsey shook his head. "As I was saying…"

"We're allies," Jacen said, holding his hand out. "We'll take the Jedi Blood Oath and make it official."

"Jedi Blood Oath?" Woolsey asked, shaking Jacen's hand apprehensively.

A broad grin broke across the Jedi's face.

"I just made it up," Jacen admitted. "How shall we proceed?"

"My superiors would like an information exchange," Woolsey said. "If you train our people to do the things you can do, we'll teach you all you want to know about our culture."

"Can't do that," Jacen said. Upon seeing Woolsey's attempt to protest, Jacen held out his hands to stop the politician. "Let me explain. Nobody here has the ability to. I've already been looking. In order to touch the Force one must have a sufficient concentration of midichlorians in their bloodstream. They act like miniature transceivers for the Force. Sheppard has the most I can sense, but even his concentration isn't high enough to be a Jedi."

Woolsey stopped walking and regarded Jacen with a mixture of suspicion and disappointment.

"One of the reasons the IOA agreed to this exchange of knowledge was that I had told them about your special abilities," Woolsey said. "Without that, I'm afraid there is little value in this partnership."

"If you find someone I can train, I'll train them," Jacen promised. "But until then, you have two Jedi Masters willing to work with your people who have provided you with a limitless energy source for your otherwise-grounded flying city. Jaina has taken an interest in helping your scientists with your _Destiny_ problem, and I alone can create the singularities to make that power source work. I know that Jedi powers weren't all you told your bosses about."

Woolsey shook his head. "Where did you learn to negotiate?"

"My mom was the Chief of State for the galactic government and I'm the prince of sixty-three worlds." Jacen shrugged. "I also have an empathic ability that most Jedi don't have. It helps me read people."

"I feel like an open book around you," Woolsey replied. "I'll admit it is a little unsettling."

"A book?" Jacen asked, resuming his pace with the Atlantis leader. "I once saw a whole library of them. I couldn't believe my eyes! Before that I saw maybe five in museums my entire life. I mean, aside from the Chiss, who uses books anymore?"

* * *

"Rush, wake up."

Nicholas Rush blinked his eyes several times to clear the fuzzy image of Eli Wallace wearing the same grey hooded sweater and red "YOU ARE HERE" T-shirt that the young man had worn almost every day since they arrived on _Destiny_.

"I see you survived the three years," Rush said. "I trust you fixed the remaining stasis chamber in time."

"More like three days," Eli said. "And that thing is…forget it. Come with me. The SGC wants to talk to you."

"Three days?" Rush demanded. Eli had already disappeared down the hallway from the stasis pods, so Rush jogged to catch up. "Eli! We don't have the power for this!"

"I know, which is why we need to hurry," Eli replied. Three doors down from the stasis chambers he opened a door and entered. Rush followed, surprised at what had happened to the small storage room in such a short time.

Along one wall was a bank of five jury-rigged computer displays tied into one terminal which displayed various status displays from systems across the ship, from power levels to shield status. There were empty ration wrappers strewn across the floor, a mattress and a blanket in one corner, and the stone communication system on a table surrounded by various objects, including Eli's laptop and iPod.

"Go, they're waiting for you," Eli said, pointing to the stone.

"Are ye sure three years haven't passed?" Rush asked as he picked up the stone and held it over the base unit.

"Days," Eli repeated, his eyes going wide as they usually did when he was trying to emphasize his point.

"Yer crazy enough for years," Rush muttered and placed the stone on the device.

With a blink of his eyes, Rush felt the usual moment of disorientation before he recognized that he was on Atlantis with the faces of McKay and Carter staring at him, as well as a pretty young woman he did not recognize.

"Oh, not you," Rush said upon seeing McKay.

"See? I told you he's an a…"

"Quiet," Carter cut McKay's rant short. "Doctor Rush, we need to run some calculations by you. Eli has told us that time is very limited, but we have a potential solution to your problem. We already got his input, but he said you know the power systems better than anyone."

Rush assessed the arms and body of the person he had switched with. Whoever this person was, he shared a sense of style with ancient monks in robes…and the girl before him. He was definitely not a soldier, though the body felt fit – much fitter than his own.

"Who switched with me?"

* * *

Jacen found the sensation of switching bodies very odd. With a blink of the eye, he was in a chaotic, dark room with a slightly overweight man wearing an over sized red shirt. The technology in the room appeared very different from Atlantis and Centrepoint, but the most disorienting aspect was being cut off from the Force. Whoever this person was, he was not Jedi material. And his vision was not the greatest either.

"Hi, I'm Eli," the overweight young man said, holding out a hand. Jacen grabbed it and used it to pull himself standing. The room seemed to spin around him a bit. He could immediately feel that this man was nowhere near in the shape as his own body had been his entire life. Perhaps the disorientation came from being out of shape. Or just old.

"Jacen, Jacen Solo. This is _Destiny_?"

"One small room of it," Eli said. "We can't really go out there. I've shut life support down in most of the ship. It follows the life forms, you see."

Eli gestured to a computer display which indicated two fuzzy red dots and a blurry green box around the room they were in. Jacen squinted, but it only helped clear the image up a bit.

"Wherever we go, we'll have life support, but that takes power. We don't really have much of that."

"I know," Jacen said. "That's why I'm here. My sister and I have been working on a solution to your problem. We think we can dial _Destiny_ from our galaxy using the Astria Porta there to send supplies through."

"Astria Porta?" Eli asked. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Oh. My. God. They sent me an Ancient!"

* * *

"I think I know why all your calculations are funny," Rush said, pointing to several of the variables on McKay's computer. "You're using the data I sent you."

"Well, what else...you didn't," McKay's face turned bright red. "You sent me false data!"

"Of course I did," Rush said smartly. "I couldn't have you ruin my work with yer meddlin'."

"Doctor Rush, we've been working on trying to solve _your_ problem for three days using bad information," Carter said angrily. "You've been wasting our time because of a petty feud with Rodney?"

"I didn't think he'd ever get this far," Rush admitted. "I gave Doctor Lee the correct data. And I'll admit, your work for building the model is exemplary, Doctor Carter."

McKay walked away three paces and turned around.

"Why is it we're trying to help this guy again?" McKay demanded. "He's obviously..."

"Smarter than you?" Rush added with a smirk.

"Can we put this behind ourselves before _Destiny_ runs out of power?" Jaina demanded before McKay could retort. "Doctor Rush, the corrected variables, please."

Rush looked up at the young woman who looked so much like Doctor Amanda Perry. He could feel some deep connection with her, as if her annoyance with him was somehow transmitted to him and were partially his own.

"Since you asked so nicely," Rush said, causing McKay to snort his displeasure at the situation. "Please pass me that..."

The tablet he pointed to shot toward his hand and he barely caught it.

"What the devil...?"

Rather than surprised, the others looked grim.

"We were hoping that wouldn't happen," Jaina said. "I think we should end this now."

"No!" Rush exclaimed, trying to stop Jaina from deactivating the Ancient communication device. "We don't have the assassin droid...I'm back early."

"He discovered the Force," Jaina explained to her brother. "We'll have to use someone else for the transfer."  
"Understood," Jacen said, then looked to Carter and McKay. "Interesting ship over there. Looks like it could use some time in a dry dock."

"Yeah, that's reason number two I don't want to be on it," McKay said on his way out the door. "I'm going to find Doctor Lee for those numbers."

"Assassin droid?" Carter asked.

"Long story," Both Jacen and Jaina replied at the same time.

* * *

"I have my own ship, and a rather enthusiastic time!" Rush shouted. "Eli! Damn, they severed the connection on me!"

"Why'd they do that?"

"Something to do with the body I was in," Rush said. "Move."

Rush pushed Eli aside and threw himself into the seat in front of the computer. He began to hammer commands and formulae into the computer.

"What are you doing now?" Eli asked, half knowing Rush was unlikely to answer him.

"I saw their work," Rush said. "We might be able to pull it off if the device they showed me puts out the power they say it does."

"Pull what off?"

"End _Destiny_'s dependence on the stars for power, of course."

"But that assumes we can make it or they can send it to us," Eli said. "I don't know how frozen your brain is from hibernation, but we're kinda on our own out here."

"One thing at a time, Eli. They wouldn't have had you wake me up if they didn't have a plan."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I CAN'T BELIEVE I DID THAT! Yes, I posted out of order. It is fixed now. SORRY!

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and favourited/followed this crossover. I've been pleasantly surprised with the response, especially considering I've been sitting on this for years thinking it was some goofy idea to play with. I don't know much about protocol with crossovers, but I think as Reikson said..."meta" might strongly describe part of this chapter. I'm not really sure what the terminology is, but this might be the one chapter that people will dislike for the reason of breaking crossover boundaries, but I think I handle it fairly well. To prep those of you who think this might ruin the story, I will say that this is the only time that any potential infractions on that front will appear as anything more than a passing comment that might aid in some level of comedy at a later point in time. Bear with me, and if it does look completely out of place, please please please let me know and if the majority rules I promise I'll rewrite it. Deal?

* * *

"According to Doctor Rush, he has already configured _Destiny_ for the use of Zero Point Modules on the off chance that they might find one and, despite his initially misleading information, the power system should be able to handle the new JPM modules," Samantha Carter said. She pointed to a schematic of _Destiny_ and the power generation distribution system glowed in bright green with some areas glowing red. "However, there are areas of the ship where damaged power conduits are leaking energy which need to be fixed before the JPMs can be brought online. With that much power going through the ship it could blow itself apart if it doesn't have a fully functioning power grid to properly manage the ship's systems."

"For the record," Doctor Rush interrupted from the body of a technician who had volunteered for the transfer. He turned in his chair to face the decision makers who had assembled in Atlantis's board room, including Richard Woolsey and General O'Neill. Also present were mysterious female visitor from another galaxy, John Sheppard, Eli Wallace (in the body of a marine), and the ever-glaring Doctor McKay. "My initial numbers were accurate to account for variability stemming from the damaged power conduits. I did not want to provide information that would allow for any incorrect assumptions to be made."

"Instead we were working with _all_ incorrect assumptions," McKay muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"When was the last time _I_ blew up a solar system?" Rush asked with false pleasantness.

"You were the one who looked over my calculations!" McKay stood and pointed across the room. "We can't trust anything this man says!"

"Can we act like adults, please?" General O'Neill asked as sarcastically as he could. McKay sat down, but the furious look on his face did not abate. "Carter's just getting to the good part. I presume there _is_ a good part, Colonel?"

"If you want to call it that, sir," Carter said almost sheepishly. "_Destiny_ doesn't have the manpower, resources, or time to do the repairs on their own. Assuming they drop out of FTL from their extended jump to open a wormhole, they'll have about half an hour before the drones swarm them."

"We solved that problem by waiting four hours before doing anything that might catch their attention," Eli interjected. "That gives us enough time to cool the engines for another jump if necessary."

"We do have six EVA suits and plenty of parts to perform some repairs, thanks to the second _Destiny_ we found," Rush said. "But we still need large quantities of various superconducting and insulating materials to properly repair the damage. And a good cup of tea would be nice, too."

"And a few changes of clothes," Eli added. "And I'd kill for a can of Coke right now."

"I presume you have a way of getting to _Destiny_ to deliver this wish list?" Woolsey asked. "Everything Doctor McKay and Colonel Carter have told me is that even with the JPM we cannot generate enough power to reach _Destiny_."

"That's where we come in," Jaina spoke for the first time in the meeting. "Jacen has returned to Centerpoint station in our galaxy to check the power requirements using gate coordinates of a stargate near _Destiny_, but we should be able to more than generate the amount of power needed to reach _Destiny_. If we're right, we can create a supply line for _Destiny_ through Centerpoint station."

As if on cue, a door panel opened and Jacen entered with a big smile on his face.

"We can do more than that," Jacen said. He held his hand up and an image projected from it onto the wall beside him. The image showed what could only be an incomplete and badly rendered map of the universe with a couple of dots, as if a child had drawn it by hand. "That red dot is Earth, and the pink halo extending around it is the range of the Stargate using the JPM. The yellow dot is _Destiny,_ and the yellow halo is their Stargate range, again using a JPM based on the calculations I just ran on Centrepoint. Obviously the two are out of range of each other even though the two fields overlap."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Rush quipped. Ignoring the jab, Jacen continued.

"This blue dot in the centre is our home galaxy, or more specifically Centrepoint station," Jacen said. "And as you can see..."

"It is within _Destiny_'s range," Eli said in awe. "We can go home!"

"We still have to repair the damaged power conduits before we pump that much raw current through them," Rush reminded him.

"Right now _Destiny_ can't reach Centerpoint on its own," Jacen said, closing his hand and making the projection disappear. "The upgrades need to be completed for that to happen, but the important thing is that we can reliably dial _in_ to _Destiny_ with no ill side effects."

"General, if you can spare a Zero Point Module or some naquadah generators, we can handle that much power with our current configuration," Rush said. "That will give us enough energy to perform the repairs, keep our life support active, and stay in FTL until we reach the next galaxy. With sufficient food and supplies from this new life line, we can wake our best people to perform the necessary repairs."

"You're sure as hell not getting a ZPM," O'Neill said. "Carter, can we hook him up with some naquadah generators?"

"We should be able to spare some Mark V generators," she replied. "Would that give you enough of a boost?"

"It might work," Rush said. "We'll have to run some calculations to see how long that will extend our power reserves."

"Hop to it," O'Neill ordered. "Carter?"

With a flick of a switch on the Ancient communication device, both Eli and Rush were replaced by their bodies' normal consciousnesses in the usual disorienting manner.

"Thanks, boys," General O'Neill said, gesturing to the door. The two technicians left, and the door sealed behind them. "Carter, I want you to go to this Centerpoint station with our friends here and double check the calculations. Bring Daniel with you. I'm running out of ideas to keep him too busy to whine about being locked up in the SGC."

"Yes, sir."

"I should go, too," McKay piped up, obviously excited about the chance of seeing Centrepoint station.

"Weren't you just telling me about how busy you were?" Woolsey asked him.

"Zelenka can handle it while I'm gone," McKay replied. "Besides, we'd better make sure we don't blow it up or anything."

"He is the resident expert on making large explosions," Sheppard said sarcastically. "I'd like to take the rest of my team along as well. No offense, but I'd rather we keep our best and brightest safe."

"We understand," Jacen said. "Though we won't be leaving the hidden facility on Centerpoint. Our galaxy is far too exotic given what I've seen of your culture, and we really don't need to leave the facility. Also, to be fair, you didn't let us see any of your planet."

"Fair is fair," Carter said with an understanding smile.

"Take one of those Ancient stone things with you," O'Neill said, pointing to the communication stones on the table. "When you get the all-clear from _Destiny_, send the naquadah generators and the JPM over to them."

"We should send some supplies, too," Woolsey said. "Food, clothing, weapons, raw materials."

"See if we can ditch some of those surplus chocolate Easter bunnies on them, too," O'Neill said. "Get going, kids."

The group broke with Woolsey and O'Neill talking quietly to each other, Carter departing to arrange the materials, leaving McKay and Sheppard to join the Solo twins.

"Good to know you consider me one of the best and brightest," McKay said to Sheppard.

"I was talking about Carter and Jackson," Sheppard said, deflating the grin on McKay's face. "I trust you two don't mind us all tagging along?"

"The more the merrier," Jacen said. "Though I will not let you leave the facility. There are quarters there for us to stay in and plenty of room. Jaina and I will need to leave for a short time after we get you settled in. We have a few holonet calls to make, and we can get some food supplies as well."

"Checking in with the mother ship?" McKay asked sarcastically.

"My wife might be wondering where I disappeared to, yes," Jacen said. "And Uncle Luke will want to know where Jaina has been for the last week. We should also tell him we've made contact with humans in another galaxy."

"_Uncle_ Luke?" Sheppard asked.

"Master Skywalker," Jaina corrected with an irritated glance at Jacen. "He's the leader of the Jedi Order, and happens to be our uncle, too. I guess you could say he's our boss."

"Wait," McKay said. "You're _Jedi_? And _Luke Skywalker_ is your uncle?"

Jaina and Jacen exchanged glances.

"I didn't realize Jedi had travelled to this world before," Jacen said. "You know about us? And our uncle?"

This time, McKay and Sheppard exchanged glances.

"Darth Vader's kid," McKay said. "He blew up the first Death Star. On Hoth he got stuffed in a tauntaun…"

"…by our dad." Jaina finished. "How do you know all this?"

"I think a better question is," Sheppard interjected. "How did George Lucas know all this?"

* * *

With hours to do nothing but wait for the shipment for the _Destiny_ crew to be assembled and shipped to Atlantis for transfer to Centerpoint station, the Jedi twins watched the six movies that were a veritable history of their grandfather's life and the early life of the Rebellion to restore the Galactic Republic. On McKay's insistence they watched the movies out of order, starting with A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back before the prequel trilogy. McKay and Sheppard fell asleep during Empire Strikes Back around midnight, and only Jedi techniques to keep themselves awake kept the twins going through the final four movies. Despite a rather comical and childish plot for the first episode, they watched the other five with utter fascination even though some of the dialogue was absolutely comical, the camera angles detracted from the action, and the resemblances between people they actually knew and the actors were uncanny-bordering-on-creepy. At the explosion of the second Death Star, both Sheppard and McKay woke up, but stayed quiet until the Ewoks started dancing at the end of the movie.

"You guys wouldn't happen to know if Jar-Jar died a horrible death, do you?" Sheppard asked.

"Never heard of him," Jacen said, smirking at the sight of an Ewok using a collection of stormtrooper helmets as an instrument. He made a mental note to ask his parents if that actually did happen.

"I'm rather glad we haven't if that one movie was anything to go by," Jaina added.

"So this is all accurate to your history?" McKay asked.

"Closer than I'd like to admit," Jaina said, crossing her arms defensively. "I think that Phantom Menace one was rather exaggerated though. And there had to be a lot more going on for grandfather to fall. That seemed like a rather pitiful representation."

"The book was better," McKay said.

"Hey, there you are," Carter appeared at the door to the makeshift movie theatre. "The shipment is ready to go."

She finally noticed the several empty bowls of popcorn and drink containers scattered throughout the room, the disheveled appearance of Sheppard's hair, and the Ewok dancing with Wedge Antillies on the screen.

"Did you guys pull an all-nighter watching Star Wars?"

"Yeah," Jaina said. "A comical and frighteningly accurate tale of our own galactic history."

"With bad dialogue, too," Jacen added.

"Hang on," Carter said with the look of a scientist discovering a theoretical improbability in her work. "You're actual Jedi? You didn't just make that up?"

"You'd think we just got here," Jacen said to his sister. "You don't know if there's anything on _our _personal history, do you?"

"I stopped reading after we left for Atlantis," McKay said. "Didn't even get a copy of _Destiny's Way_. Wait, were you actually captured by the Yuuzhan Vong at the end of _Star by Star_ and tortured by Vergere like in _Traitor_? And you, you went on that bitch-trip in _Dark Journey_ when you thought he was dead. How did the war end?"

"McKay!" Sheppard and Carter both said at the same time, but Jacen and Jaina wore identical looks of shock on their faces.

"I feel kinda violated," Jaina said in a tiny voice, sinking into the couch a bit.

"Our history is in some books a guy on the other side of the universe is writing?" Jacen asked, still trying to wrap his head around the absurdity of the situation.

"I think we've intruded on our guests' personal lives enough," Sam said. "Jacen, Jaina, please come with me. I want to go over some calculations with you."

Jacen and Jaina jumped at the chance of getting out of the room and followed Sam.

"But..." McKay started, but Sheppard punched his arm. "Hey! What was that for?"

"Can't you see they're a little uncomfortable with your prying?"

"Can't you see this for the amazing mystery that it is?" McKay countered, still massaging his arm. "We've met _fictional_ people from our own literature!"

"I'm not discussing this," Sheppard said. "They're good people who don't need us prying into their pasts because of some weird twist of fate."

"Pasts? What about their futures?" McKay said. "We could find out what's going to happen to them simply by reading the books here."

"You do that," Sheppard said. "But if I catch you talking to them about their supposed futures, I'll kick your ass!"

"Gotcha!" McKay said and disappeared down a corridor in the opposite direction.

"I mean it, McKay!"

* * *

The transition to the Galaxy Far, Far Away, or GFFA for short, as dubbed by McKay, was as uneventful as any other transition through the stargate. Awaiting them on the other side was a small cylindrical machine with a domed top that appeared to be wielding some sort of weapon.

"Stand down, Womprat," Jacen said casually as he walked away from the shimmering event horizon with Sam Carter at his side. A moment later Jaina and Doctor Daniel Jackson followed, and McKay came next with Sheppard, Tayla and Ronin. Behind Ronin a large cylindrical remote-controlled transport came through, followed by a second one. McKay and Sheppard parked them on opposite sides of the gateroom, nearly running each other over with the transports in the process.

Carter took a look around the gateroom and squeezed the radio on her vest strap.

"Atlantis, this is Carter. We've arrived safely with all cargo intact. We'll dial back once we're settled and ready to make contact with _Destiny_."

"Godspeed, Colonel," Woolsey's voice responded. Two seconds later the stargate deactivated and the lights around the ancient ring winked out.

"The control room is through there." Jacen pointed to the door opposite the stargate. "You can set up your equipment there."

Sheppard and Ronin led the way, weapons at the ready, followed by Tayla, Carter, McKay and Jackson. Jaina joined Jacen near Womprat.

"I'll go report back to Uncle Luke," Jaina said. "Assuming your stupid droid hasn't moved my X-wing."

"Report: Your X-wing is most certainly still here, mistress meatbag," Womprat said. "It is parked beside the other Jedi X-wings."

"Other Jedi?" Jacen asked. A familiar chorus of lightsaber activations and some indiscriminate shouting brought Jacen's attention to the control room. "Shavit!"

* * *

The twins sprinted into the control room to find Kyle Katarn and several other Jedi in a standoff with their new allies. The Earthlings had taken cover behind several consoles and had their weapons pointed at the Jedi, and the Jedi were at the ready with their lightsabers humming like a swarm of angry insects.

"Everyone, stand down." Jaina put herself in the middle of the potential battlefield unarmed, palms held out as if to signal everyone to stop. "Master Katarn, they're friendlies."

"They don't look friendly," Kyle said, but he deactivated his blue lightsaber anyway. While the Earthlings took that as a sign of standing down, Jaina knew that Kyle would not even be remotely close to standing down until his lightsaber was on his belt and he was willing to turn his back on them. The other Jedi followed his lead, and the Earthlings lowered their weapons in return.

"They're explorers from another galaxy," Jaina explained. "They have people stranded on the other side of the universe and they need our help to get them back."

Kyle regarded the mysterious humans for a moment and nodded.

"You two, come with me."

Jacen and Jaina followed Kyle out of the control room back to the open area where their ships were parked.

"You two initiated first contact with an extragalactic species without authorization from the Jedi Council?" Kyle demanded. "What is _wrong_ with you? Did you _forget_ about the Yuuzhan Vong war?"

"These are good people," Jacen said. "Spend some time with them and you'll agree."

"My orders were to find you two and bring you to the Council to explain yourselves," Kyle said. "You haven't been heard from in over a week. We had to track your X-wing to find you, and we were greeted by a very enthusiastic astromech droid that wanted to kill us. Luke wants both of you brought back to the Council immediately_._"

"These people need our help," Jaina pleaded. "Kyle, I agree with you about the risks, but how often do we get to meet humans from another galaxy? The information in this place completely rewrites our galactic history going back millions of years. We found out _why_ Centerpoint was built and through it that we have the possibility of exploring the universe. The technology they have is so different..."

"While I appreciate your enthusiasm," Kyle cut her off, "I have my orders. We have to send these people back to where they came from and have a team of Jedi anthropologists go through..."

"I don't think so," Jacen interrupted. "The Jedi don't have jurisdiction here."

"What do you mean?"

"_I_ received permission from the prime minister of Corellia to conduct research on Centerpoint station as a Corellian citizen. Something tells me _you_ have not. The Jedi mandate is to uphold local laws and regulations within the authority of the locals, and I am the current authority here."

"What are you trying to say, Solo?" Katarn demanded.

"You're invading on my research claim as a Corellian citizen," Jacen said. "As Corellia is part of the Jedi Coalition, which is sworn to uphold their laws, you have no legal authority to interfere with _my_ research site."

"A Knight of the Jedi Order. So long as you're Jedi, you still answer to the Council."

"I'm on paternity leave," Jacen countered smartly.

"Yes, I can see you're spending a lot of time with your kids." Kyle gestured to the facility behind Jacen. "My, how big they've gotten. What have you been feeding them?"

"Master Katarn, let us contact Master Skywalker and see how he wants us to proceed," Jaina suggested, more to stop any retort from her brother than anything. "Let him judge the situation. We're at a sensitive point in our relationship, a relationship that it could prove very beneficial for us. They have access to some advanced technologies we've never seen before."

"What kind of technology?"

"Cloaking devices that don't block sensors, power modules that derive power from zero point energy," Jaina said before her brother could comment. She figured it would be better for Kyle to hear it from her. "And they've recently developed, with Jacen's help, a miniature version of the power system of Centrepoint station."

Kyle pointed up to the singularity powering Centrepoint, shining brightly above them.

"_That_ power generation system?"

"Yes. Small enough to fit in an X-wing, powerful enough to power a Death Star for decades."

"We need to call Luke."


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I'm trying something new out...to put breaks in between sections, since ff.n doesn't like people putting in proper spacing or continuous characters or stuff like that...I created something that it seems to accept and is mildly appropriate to Star Wars stories. Let's see how well it works.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

While Jacen, Jaina, and the bearded older Jedi spoke outside the control room, McKay could not help but start examining the control room around him despite the intimidating presence of the Jedi warriors. The design was clearly Ancient and appeared to be newer technology than Atlantis, but not as new as the outpost planet he had accidentally destroyed. The control systems begged him to examine them as much as the Jedi kept his curious impulses at bay.

"That looks like a control chair," McKay whispered to Carter, pointing at a chair in the middle of the room. "Look how they've modified the tactile interface for three dimensions of control!"

"I see it, McKay," Carter replied in a quiet but stern tone through gritted teeth. "Now is not the time."

"And look at the armoury!" McKay continued, oblivious to Carter's warning. "They actually left weapons behind. I always thought that was pretty inconsiderate of them, not leaving any weapons on Atlantis."

"McKay," Sheppard chimed in. "Not now."

"Look at how this dialing device is tied into the computer system." McKay pointed at a console directly beside him. "It looks like you can upload coordinates directly from..."

"McKay!" Sheppard, Tayla, Ronin, Jackson and Carter all shouted at the same time, startling the Canadian scientist. He looked up and saw that even the stoic Jedi appeared to be annoyed with him.

"What?" Rodney asked innocently. "I'm just getting a head start for when they realize we're friends."

Master Katarn and the twins chose that moment to return.

"Stand down," Katarn ordered his team of Jedi. "Master Skywalker has ordered us to pursue diplomatic relations with the Earthlings."

"See?" McKay said and sat down at the dialing computer. "Now, what are your secrets?"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=)=[[[[[[[[#]]]]

Two storeys below the control room, Kyle Katarn, Jaden Corr, Jacen and Jaina Solo sat at a table remarkably similar to the conference table on Atlantis across from Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter, John Sheppard, and Rodney McKay. Tayla, Ronin, and the other Jedi remained in the control room awaiting the outcome of the meeting.

"Master Skywalker has granted me permission to negotiate on the behalf of the Jedi Council," Kyle Katarn started. "Please tell us about your galaxy."

"We are explorers from a planet called Earth," Daniel said. "Fourteen years ago we began exploring our galaxy using stargates to acquire new technologies and develop friendships to defend ourselves and our allies from an enemy called the Goa'uld – a parasitic snake-like creature that inhabits humans and uses advanced technologies to enslave other humans. About seven years ago we finally liberated their armies from their control and have all but eliminated their threat to the free people of our galaxy. Another alien species, the Ori, attacked our galaxy on a religious crusade to control us and eliminate the ascended Ancients in one of their few stronghold galaxies. We eliminated that threat three years ago and have focused on improving our own technologies and finding ways to improve quality of life on Earth while maintaining the secrecy of the Stargate Program."

"Your own people don't know about what is happening in the galaxy around them?" Jaden asked. "How isolated is your planet from the rest of your galaxy? Do you not have an inter-planetary holonet?"

"I don't even know what a holonet is," Daniel admitted. "But most people on Earth wouldn't accept something out of a sci-fi novel if it was true. And to be perfectly honest, over a sixth of our population is struggling to find food enough to see tomorrow and wouldn't care one way or another if the United States Air Force controlled a dozen space ships or not. At any given time there are civil wars going on in a dozen countries and religious fanaticism has resulted in both terrorist attacks on any nation they can infiltrate and invasions to acquire oil and other resources. Earth is by far not a perfect planet, but we're doing what we can to make it better."

"Try not to oversell us, Jackson," Sheppard quipped. Daniel shrugged in response.

"Why do you need us?" Kyle asked.

"We've been over this already," Jacen muttered impatiently.

Kyle shot him a look of annoyance but said nothing.

"We have a team of people who are stranded on an Ancient space ship on the other side of the universe," Samantha Carter said. "They have no way to get home and we have no way to supply them with anything. They've been out there for three years and the ship is literally falling apart around them while they've been under constant attack."

"What we need is to create a supply line," Sheppard continued. "A means to send supplies and maybe personnel to them from Earth. We don't need anything more than long-term access to your stargate here on Centrepoint station."

"We'd also like the opportunity to examine your technology," McKay said. "This Centerpoint station of yours? It's newer than Atlantis. A lot newer. We want to see what we can learn from it to improve our own technology back home."

"And anything else you might be willing to let us look at," Daniel said. "We understand that you have very limited knowledge of Centerpoint. Since the technology is one were familiar with, we'd be willing to offer our general expertise on Ancient technology to help you understand and use it better."

_Think about it,_ Jacen thought to the other Jedi in the room through the Force. _These people have power sources that could give an X-wing planetary strength shielding and turbolasers. These people could help us liberate the galaxy from the Sith again._

"I will need to consult with Master Skywalker on the particulars of what may interest the Jedi Order," Kyle said and started to stand up.

"Before you do that," Daniel interrupted. "Our people are on a very strict timeline on _Destiny_, the ship on the other side of the universe. We need to contact them immediately and send supplies otherwise they could all die in very short order."

"Jaina?" Kyle asked sceptically.

"The ship is suffering from power supply issues," Jaina elaborated. "It can only hold forty percent of its original designed capacity and there is an enemy fleet barricading the stars it can recharge from. Among the supplies are sixteen power generators that have been designed to augment _Destiny_'s batteries to provide it enough power to survive an extended journey to the next galaxy."

"Sixteen Mark V naquadah generators can do a lot more than that," McKay said arrogantly. "They'll provide enough power that they can run all essential systems without even tapping into their batteries unless they go into battle."

Kyle regarded the Earthlings for a moment and returned his gaze to Jaina.

"Will sending these supplies have any impact on Centerpoint or the Corellian system?"

"No," Jacen said. "Centerpoint is designed for this. It'll know what to do to protect everyone."

"Forgive me, Knight Solo, but I'd rather hear this from your sister."

Jacen rolled his eyes, but turned to look at his sister with everyone else.

"He knows this system better than anyone," Jaina admitted and gestured to the Earthlings. "And, truth be told, the best experts on this technology are probably across the table from us."

"We can run some simulations with your people," Samantha offered before McKay could speak.

"A joint venture of goodwill," Daniel added with a small shrug and a disarming smile.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=)=[[[[[[[[#]]]]

While Jaina Solo, Jaden Corr, Samantha Carter, and Rodney McKay worked on the simulations to prove to Kyle that Centrepoint would not blow itself up if it tried connecting to _Destiny_, Jacen Solo and Daniel Jackson sifted through the database to learn more about the builders of the station.

"So if these Ancients were the ultimate power in the universe," Jacen said. "How did they die out?"

"They didn't," Daniel said, not looking away from the gate coordinates listed on the terminal in front of him. "Not all of them, anyway. They were infected with some sort of super virus that killed off most of them, but the rest ascended to a state of pure energy."

"I know some Jedi Masters who have done that," Jacen said. "When they died their consciousnesses were preserved in the Force."

"Did you see this?" Daniel asked. "There are some explanations about the nine chevron addresses."

"No," Jacen said and pulled his chair over so he could see Daniel's screen.

_Destiny_ – The greatest ambition of the Acnoya Era Alterans. Upon the discovery of a pattern in the residual microwave background radiation that proved too regular and unnatural in origin, the ship _Destiny_ and the fourteen seed ships were constructed and sent to populate the universe with stargates. The seedships, advance scouts for _Destiny_ that placed the stargates, were designed to determine key points of the messages in this radiation while _Destiny_ analyzed and oversaw their efforts. Ultimately, on the completion of this mission, all of the stargates would be activated to create a transceiver network that would transmit the full message back to Earth.

Supplement entries: _Destiny_ Technical Overview, Contingency, Gamble, Finale, Master Code, BRMP.

"Well, Rush already determined the Master Code," Daniel said. "Let's check out Contingency."

_Contingency_ – A million years after _Destiny_'s departure, the Alteran High Council decided that _Destiny_'s mission was proceeding too slowly. An increase in curiosity surrounding the mystery led them to decide to augment the _Destiny_ mission with three other ships – Contingency, Gamble, and Finale – each to seed a separate quadrant of the universe. Initial plans to use newer technologies to seed the galaxy with longer range stargates were quashed when scientists recalled that in order for the giant ring of stargates around the universe to capture the entire message of the background radiation, they needed to be within a short range of each other.

Supplement entries: _Contingency _Technical Overview, _Destiny_, _Gamble_, _Finale_, Master Code, BRMP.

"This is bad," Daniel said. "If Rush has taken _Destiny_ off auto pilot, the entire mission could be in jeopardy. Without a complete ring of stargates, the entire efforts of generations of Ancients could be at risk."

"Try BRMP," Jacen said.

A diagram depicting four different coloured arcs extending out from a single point and covering a quarter of the universe each was displayed above the text.

Background Radiation Master Plan – Developed prior to the decision to build _Contingency, Gamble_ and _Finale_, the Master Plan for deciphering the message within the background radiation of the universe is a series of instructions for each ship to populate a quarter of the universe by following the message as required. Using the seed ships, the four ships would collect as much data as possible regarding the background radiation message and communicate it to each other using the newly designed subspace communication relays. Using three extra ships with superior hyperdrive technology is expected to reduce the mission time by over 200 million Alteran solar cycles. It was later determined that Altera was the wrong location to activate the network from, so a team of scientists were sent out to determine the best location and construct Centrepoint station. Using supplementary power supplies from nearby planets, Centrepoint was built to be capable of activating the entire network of stargates across the universe to finally determine and process the message hidden in the background radiation.

Jacen and Daniel stared at the screen for a moment in silence.

"So it wasn't that they were stranded out here in this galaxy," Jacen said.

"But they stranded _themselves_ so they could build Centrepoint and finish the network," Daniel finished.

"That means the project that we stumbled on, the JPM, wasn't the first iteration of the design," Jacen said slowly. "But an experiment to see if they could backward engineer the idea for a smaller scale, likely for Atlantis."

Daniel began frantically typing into the terminal and Jacen watched as the archeologist scanned through page after page of data. He finally stopped and jabbed a finger at the display.

A countdown was displayed that sunk both men's stomachs down to their knees – _Destiny's_ mission was under six weeks from completion.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=)=[[[[[[[[#]]]]

"As predicted, no risk," McKay said smugly, holding a tablet out to Kyle Katarn. "There is a point-zero-zero-one chance that the Hollowpoint star will flare."

"The safety margin is exceptionally high," Carter said. "Like Atlantis, Centerpoint is built with plenty of safety measures that will shut the stargate down if there is any risk to itself or its inhabitants."

Kyle stared at the screen for a few moments trying to understand the gibberish before him, but he finally came to the realization that the math was way over his head. He looked to Jaden and Jaina, who nodded in agreement with the Earthlings.

"Go ahead and send your supplies," Kyle said.

"It'll take four hours," Carter said. "_Destiny_ has to drop out of hyperspace and let the engines cool for that long before they can return to hyperspace. Activating the stargate will alert their enemies to their location."

"Are you going with the supplies?" Katarn asked.

Carter and McKay exchanged glances for a moment.

"Well, I'm not going to strand myself on a ship with Rush," McKay muttered and retreated across the room.

"No," Carter said. "The crew will need to repair _Destiny_ on their own. We can't send more personnel until we have an established stargate connection from _Destiny_."

"Sam, we need to talk," Daniel and Jacen approached Carter and the other Jedi. His words came out in a rush to match the borderline-frantic look on his face that he got whenever he had urgently bad news to report. "There are three other ships out there doing a quarter of _Destiny's_ mission each. The mission is estimated to be finished in less than six weeks by Centerpoint's calculation."

"That would mean _Destiny_ isn't far from another set of stargates that would link all the way back to Earth," Carter said. "If that's the case, we should be able to use that route with the gate-forwarding algorithm Rodney and I invented for the bridge between Pegasus and the Milky Way to get everyone home."

"Yes," Jacen said. "But we may not have time to implement it since _Destiny_ is also nearing its end of life."

"What do you mean?" Jaina asked.

"_Destiny_ and the other ships weren't designed to ever come home," Daniel said. "They were designed to oversee the deployment of stargates, gather intel to send back, and then _self destruct_ when the mission was complete. They are programmed only to go as far along as possible until they find another set of stargates and wait there for confirmation that a universe-surrounding network of stargates has been created. The Ancients didn't want their technology just sitting around, so they designed the ships to destroy themselves. This also means that when the crew took the ship off auto-pilot, it interrupted the mission."

"They need to go _back_," Jacen continued. "They need to go back to the point in space where _Destiny_ was when they took it off autopilot and reengage the autopilot, otherwise this whole mission will be for nothing. Even the slightest gap in the data can ruin everything."

"What mission?" Sheppard asked, joining the conversation. "It's a bunch of old ships spitting out stargates around the universe."

"Come _on_, John," Daniel pleaded. "You're not even a little interested to find out what the Ancients would spend sixty million years and probably quadrillions of whatever currency they had on to learn?"

"All I'm interested in is getting our people back, Doctor Jackson," Sheppard said, and then remembered that Colonel Carter outranked him. "Provided that is what the Colonel is interested in, obviously."

"If I could make a suggestion," Jacen said. "Let's contact _Destiny_ and let them know we're sending the supplies before they die. After that, you can contact your government about the mission to determine the next step."

"Let's do it," Carter said. "McKay, set up the communication stones."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=)=[[[[[[[[#]]]]

Eli and Rush sat in a maddening silence for hours waiting for the communication stones to activate. Rush buried himself in the computer for hours running calculations on various simulations while Eli stared blankly at the ceiling listening to his iPod and wondering if Rush would ever not be an egotistical ass. After he laid there staring at the same rivet for over an hour, the rush of disorientation from the communication stone activating caught him completely off guard. Upon arriving in an obviously Ancient facility, Eli fell off the chair with a startled scream.

"Get a grip of yerself, Eli," the giant warrior, Ronin said to Eli – not Ronin, Rush. Ronin did not look like the type of person to speak with a Scottish accent.

"Yeah, sorry, I was half asleep," Eli said. He stood up and started brushing the non-existent dirt from the shirt of...

_Oh. My. God. They put me in Tayla!_

"You should probably remove your hands from there," Sheppard said to Eli pointedly.

"Right!" Eli exclaimed, and dropped his hands to his sides. "Sorry about that! Where are we?"

"An Ancient outpost," Rush said, assessing the control panels around them. "Very modern, by Ancient standards, anyway."

"Did we have to bring both of them?" McKay's distinctive voice whined.

"Yes, we did," Daniel Jackson said, drawing everyone's attention to himself. "Nick, Eli, we have some good news and some bad news."

"Worse than our ship running out of power?" Eli asked.

"Yeah," Daniel said. His eyes grew slightly wider, like saucers hiding behind his glasses. "_Destiny_'s on a suicide mission. And it's almost over."

"What do ye mean, 'almost over?'" Rush asked. "_Destiny's_ databank tells me it has about seven hundred and fifty million years until it is done."

Jacen and Daniel launched into the explanation of the other ships they learned about in the Centerpoint database drawing looks of amazement from the two scientists.

"The worst part is, you need to go _back_," Daniel said. "Back to when you took the ship off auto-pilot and started controlling the jumps. That interrupted the mission. It should also buy you a couple years."

"And we have to figure out what to do with the crew," Sam said. "We're not sure if it would be best to evacuate everyone to a planet and work from there for the recovery process."

"I thought you said you had good news for us," Rush said. "We don't have the power for a jaunt back across two galaxies. We can barely make it out of _this_ galaxy!"

"We have supplies, including some generators," Sheppard said. "We need you to drop the ship out of FTL so we can send them down."

"There is the four hour..."

"We know, Eli," Carter interrupted. "Drop the ship out of FTL and we'll wait four hours before dialing in. We'll send the supplies through and then re-establish contact once you're safely back in FTL."

"Wait five minutes," Jacen suddenly said. Everyone turned to look at him. "Call it a hunch, but five minutes seems about right."

"Sever the connection," Sheppard said to McKay, who quickly flicked the switch on the communication device.

"Home sweet home," Eli said, back in his own body lying on his back.

"Something like that," Rush said. "I'm dropping the ship from FTL in five minutes."

At the appropriate time_, Destiny_ transitioned back into realspace and a warning klaxon blared.

"What's that?" Eli asked, scrambling to his feet.

"We've been located."

"I knew we should've dropped out right away!"

"Have you routed weapons through these consoles?" Rush asked.

"No, targeting is still from the bridge."

Rush and Eli raced out of the room toward the bridge, a slow going process as the ship attempted to pressurize the corridors ahead of them. Every door took several seconds to open, adding up to minutes before they finally reached the bridge.

"I haven't felt any weapon impacts yet," Eli said.

"They must be waiting for something before they kill us," Rush agreed, keying in the code to the bridge. The door swung open and both scientists ran to the controls at the front of the bridge.

"I don't recognize the configuration," Eli said after a minute of examining one of the sensor readouts on the ship before them. "That ship is huge! Almost the size of _Destiny_. Their power signature looks familiar though."

"That's an Asgard-based sublight drive signature," Rush said. "I recognize it from the _Dauntless _class ships, but that isn't an Asgard ship."

"They're trying to hail us," Eli said. "Do you want to talk to them?"

Rush answered by hitting the open frequencies button.

"This is Doctor Nicholas Rush aboard _Destiny_. Who are ye out there?"

"Doctor Rush, I am General Theodore Young of the Taurus-class battle cruiser _Everett_," a somewhat familiar gruff voice responded. "We've been looking for you."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


End file.
